1. The body odour of Henri IV of France (1553-1610) was notorious, as was that of his son Louis XIII. He boasted, "I take after my father, I smell of armpits."

2. Elizabeth I prided herself on bathing once a month, "whether I need it or not."

3. Her successor, James I, reportedly washed only his fingers.

4. Although he did vigorous daily exercise, Louis XIV only took two baths in his long life. He and his age believed he cleaned himself by changing his linen shirt three times a day.

The Dirty Secrets of Bathtime

Katherine Ashenburg selects the major turning points in the story of hygeine.

BACKGROUND

• 6 Recession-proof cleaning supplies

• The Dirty Half Dozen: 6 Filthy Aristocrats

BACKGROUND

• Clean: An Unsanitised History of Washing by Katherine Ashenburg

• An unsanitised history of washing

5. It was a toss-up who was dirtier, Samuel Johnson or his biographer James Boswell. When Boswell toured Europe in the 1760s, he reported that the Marquis d’Argens had not taken off his flannel under-waistcoat for four years. When the King of Prussia insisted he remove it, the Marquis obeyed, and pieces of his skin came away with it.

6. When Caroline of Brunswick travelled to England to marry the Prince of Wales, her British escort complained that she "offended the nostrils" by her poor hygiene. He despaired of getting her to wash and change her underwear often enough to meet English court standards.

Clean: An Unsanitised History of Washing is published today by Profile Books price £8.99

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